JAMES D. FRANCIS ART LIBRARY
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1970
The Museum’s James D. Francis Art Library is a unique resource in the Tri-State, offering a wide range of books and other resources on the fine and decorative arts. As West Virginia’s only professionally staffed art library, its holdings offer a wealth of information to the community, and it now has approximately 28,500 volumes, in addition to an extensive collection of artists’ files and periodicals.
Explore James D. Francis Art Library Catalog
In January 2025, the James D. Francis Library at the Huntington Museum of Art became a member of OCLC. Formerly known as the Online Computer Library Center, OCLC is a cooperative organization with thousands of member libraries around the globe. Member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. The James D. Francis Library has approximately 28,000 items in its collection and, through WorldCat, researchers will be able to find these items. The HMA collections do not circulate, however, the Library can provide information about various materials and make them available for in-person research.
Library materials are non-circulating and restricted to use in the library. While its primary mission is to support research on the Museum’s permanent collection and assist with exhibition planning, it also serves as an information center for local collectors and art lovers. Subject areas that are emphasized include American and European art, glass, Islamic art, firearms, silver, contemporary prints, and folk art. The collection of materials on glass is particularly notable, with approximately 1,000 volumes on the subject, as well as a number of historic trade journals and company catalogs.
The library is open by appointment and also accepts reference queries by telephone (304) 529-2701 or e-mail [email protected]. Appointments are required for research visits.
ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
Winslow George Anderson Papers
Winslow George Anderson Papers Finding Aid
Winslow George Anderson (May 17, 1917 – December 10, 2007) was a noted artist, painter, ceramicist and glass designer from Plymouth, Massachusetts. A graduate of Alfred University’s School of Ceramics, Anderson was a leading glass designer for the Blenko Glass Company of West Virginia (1946-1953) and Design Director for Lenox China and Crystal, located in Trenton, New Jersey (1953-1979). He was the recipient of numerous accolades during his lifetime, including, Museum of Modern Art Good Design Awards. His works have been exhibited and collected by museums across the United States, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
In addition to his own artistic endeavors, Anderson was an avid collector of Haitian art. His papers include documentation of his travels to Haiti and other Caribbean islands, correspondence with artists and art collectors, and the pieces he donated to the Huntington Museum of Art.
Herman Palmer Dean Papers
Born in Wayne, West Virginia, on May 6, 1897, to Byron and Laura Osborn Dean, Herman Palmer Dean was known as a journalist, publisher, businessman, traveler and firearms expert and collector. As an avid hunter, Dean was knowledgeable about firearms, and began collecting them as a hobby.
Overall, the Herman P. Dean Firearms Collection holds nearly 400 items, and is widely considered to be one of the finest firearms collections in the country. In 1952, Dean loaned his firearms collection to Huntington Museum of Art (then, Huntington Galleries) and later donated it to the museum. The collection is open to the public, and an online finding aid (index) to the Herman P. Dean Papers is available.
Stanley Sporny Papers
Stanley Sporny Papers Finding Aid
Born in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Stanley Sporny attended the Philadelphia College of Art and the University of Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1972, he was sponsored by Alex Katz to attend the Skowhegan School in Maine. From 1972 to 1975 he received the Albright Scholarship to study in Sri Lanka. Stanley Sporny would then go on to teach at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge from 1987 to 1988 before becoming a teacher at Marshall University in West Virginia in 1989 and stayed there for the remainder of his life. Stanley Sporny exhibited his artwork widely throughout his career and his works can be found in multiple museums, including the National Museum of American Art. His work was shown in such places as New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington D.C. Stanley Sporny passed away in 2008 at the age of 62.
The scope of this collection contains Stanley Sporny’s personal materials, such personal photos and correspondence between Sporny and galleries/auctioneers and teachers, photocopies of some of his artwork and ads/pamphlets of different exhibitions/galleries he had or attended. Materials collected during his time teaching at Marshall and Louisiana State, such as research grants, syllabi and tenue applications and recommendations as well as class evaluations by both students and co-workers are found in several folders. Articles that Sporny saved whether about him and his accomplishments or those of his students. Folders containing materials regarding his Sporny Solution, patent applications, chemical notes, and correspondence regarding the solution, can be found within the collection.
Other Archival Collections
Finding aids are still being developed for several other collections in our archive. Researchers may request to see items in the papers from the Isabelle Gwynn Daine collection, Daywood (Arthur Spencer Dayton and Ruth Woods Dayton) Collection, Kelsey Murphy Collection, or Malcolm Goldstein Collection.